Core drilling of concrete is often performed using an appropriate core drilling bit in a hammer drill. However, only a limited depth can be obtained before the bit must be withdrawn to allow clearing of material from the core. A few rig-mounted systems employ a vacuum to handle dust and debris. The process is relatively slow and labor intensive. More complicated core drilling systems exist that employ water to cool the bit and remove some of the loose material from the core, but these systems require specialized xe2x80x9cwetxe2x80x9d drills for feeding water into the bit and are expensive and not easily used in remote locations due to the need for water. What would be useful is an inexpensive, transportable system to perform core drilling quicker with less effort.
The present invention is drawn to a core drilling method and apparatus for concrete, and more particularly to a semi-automatic method and apparatus for mounting an ordinary hammer drill and an air blower to a transportable support frame, wherein a recoil spring or similar resilient member is mounted between the hammer drill and a jack member fixed to the support frame.
In another embodiment, the system can be made completely automatic by incorporating a jack drive means and a limit switch.
The present invention provides an improved method and apparatus for core drilling of concrete by resiliently mounting a hammer drill to a drill press (or similar support frame) using a recoil spring to maintain a driving force on the hammer drill. An air blower is positioned adjacent the core drilling bit to provide cooling and material removal from the core such that the bit no longer needs to be periodically withdrawn from the core for material removal.
It is another embodiment, the support frame uses a screw jack to periodically move the resiliently mounted hammer drill. Use of an inexpensive electric blower and electric hammer drill allow semi-automatic remote operation, wherein the screw jack is turned to compress the recoil spring and then the blower and hammer drill are turned on from a remote distance by switching the electricity on. In this manner, the operator can operate the core drilling system without being subjected to the concrete dust and debris being blown from the core by the blower.